Hope Haven

As I have said previously, I worked as an associate in the summer program at Hope Haven. It was a position created for me to give me something to do in-between bus trips. I transported people to the center and arrived there about 8:00 AM daily. I took them home at 3:00 PM. To make the job viable, because I couldn’t earn enough just driving the bus, they gave me this position to fill out the day.

The unfortunate thing was that by doing that I displaced someone who had worked there for several summers. The other summer workers loved the person and that made me the bad guy. They didn’t want to like me and they were determined not to let me win them over.

I got the dirtiest jobs and the duties no one else wanted to do. The two teachers and the other three associates loved to order me around and remind me that I didn’t know anything about special needs people. They were right, of course, but I was eager to learn and wanted to do the right thing. I had experience working with behavior disorder kids and felt confident I could learn the nuances of working with physically and mentally challenged kids.

The kids in this program ranged from severe autistic to wheelchair bound to severe mental disabilities. There was one adult person for every two or three kids. The adults were busy all the time tending to the needs of the kids. There was barely time to go to the restroom. Lunch was out of the question because I had to sit between two kids to help them eat. By the time it was over each day they had food all over themselves and me, too. I wasn’t usually too hungry after all that anyway.

We did take the kids on field trips from time to time and it worked well that I could drive the bus. On some trips the kids would get very excited and we didn’t seem to have enough hands to keep them out of danger. I always had this terrible fear that one of them would get away from us somehow and get lost or worse, get injured in some way. Fortunately, that never happened.

Over time the staff softened and actually begin to like me a little. The whole thing was a lesson for me in how to treat others with dignity and respect. I was able to earn it but it took a few weeks.

I earned respect from the management as well. They were very pleased with my work. A couple years later they asked me to serve on the board of directors. I did serve two terms and during that time was offered the Assistant Director position at Hope Haven. Although it was tempting, it was a direction I really didn’t want to go at that time. I have fond memories of my time at Hope Haven as an employee and then a board member. I think of the kids and the families from time to time and wonder how they are doing.